Research Projects:

2009

2008

"Anticipatory Planning in Nonhuman Primates"

Description: This project is to explore motor planning and sequential behaviors through the lens of a comparative approach. To date, there has been very little research comparing motor planning abilities across species.

Activity Patterns of Semi-Free-Ranging Sanford’s Lemurs (Eulemur sanfordi) as Compared with Their Wild Counterparts in Madagascar, with Special Focus on Cathemerality.

Tyann Marsh, Lemur Conservation Foundation.

Description: The primary objective of this study is to determine the activity patterns of the Sanford’s lemurs, especially as relates to the 24-hour daily cycle, and to compare these data with studies completed in the wild. The goal is to attain a better understanding of how Sanford’s lemurs partition their time, and to be able to compare the data collected here with diurnal data collected in the wild in northern Madagascar.

2007

Reconciliation in male ring-tailed lemurs.

Linda Taylor, April Cohen, Christine Mantis, University of Miami.

Description: Reconciliation is a social phenomenon in which agonistic interactions are followed by an increase in friendly interactions between former antagonists. It appears to help repair disturbed social relationships, to maintain group cohesion, and reduce stress. In addition, it may be crucial to maintaining long-term social relationships, even among closely-related individuals. Reconciliation has been documented in Old World monkeys, New World monkeys, and apes. This study looks for evidence of reconciliation in ring-tailed lemurs.

Alloparenting in RedRuffed Lemurs (Vaericia rubra): A Pilot Study.

Natalie Vasey, Portland State University, Monica Mogilewsky, Tyann Marsh, Lemur Conservation Foundation, 2007-2008.

Description: The primary objective of this study was to quantify types of parental care given to infants during the first few months of life in a single pair of V. rubra and to include longitudinal patterns in the frequency of such care. These data will contribute to a more expansive project entailing inquiry into community relatedness (genetic) and ecological variables that operate in tandem with alloparental care.

Behavior and Fecal Cortisol of Male and Female Ring-tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta) during Group Formation.

Linda Taylor, University of Miami & Monica Mogilewsky, Lemur Conservation Foundation, 2007-2008.

Description: Examination of the changes in behavior and stress as indicated by fecal cortisol levels in male & female ring-tailed lemur before, during and after group formation.

2006

Auditory perception and musical enrichment in lemurs.

Laurie Santos, Adena Schachner, Yale University.

Description: A series of experiments designed to examine how non-human primates, our evolutionary relatives, interpret basic properties of sound (e.g. rhythmic pattern).

2005

Sustainable Zoo-keeping and Lemur Frugivory.

Trevor Caughlin, New College of Florida.

Description: Analysis of the habitat within two lemur enclosures at the Myakka City Lemur Reserve and the determination of native fruiting plants and trees that would thrive within those habitats, providing natural foraging material for the semi-free ranging lemurs at the reserve.

Lemur Knowledge of Animate Objects.

Laurie Santos, Shannon Kundey, Jennifer Barnes, and Neha Mahajan, Yale University.

Description: A series of experiments designed to examine what lemurs understand about animate vs. inanimate objects.

Lemur Knowledge of Tools.

Laurie Santos, Derek Lyons, Jennifer Barnes, and Neha Mahajan, Yale University.

Description: Presenting variations of simple pulling tool tasks to learn which properties lemurs attend to when reasoning about functional tools.

Seed Dispersal in Semi-free Ranging Eulemur fulvus.

Jessica Scott, University of Arkansas.

Description: Documenting the food items eaten by Eulemur fulvus in a semi-free ranging setting and collecting and examining fecal samples to determine the possibility of seed dispersal in a this controlled captive environment.

An assessment of spatial memory & cognitive mapping capability in several Lemuridea species.

Lisa Pytka, Undergraduate thesis, New College of Florida.

Description: Spatial memory in foraging in Lemur atta and Eulemur fulvus rufus.

2004

Multiple Measures of Laterality and Handedness in Two Species of Lemur: Lemur catta and Eulemur mongoz.

Kate Chapman, Undergraduate Thesis, New College of Florida.

Description: Assessment of hand preference by monitoring lemur manipulation in a discrete food presentation task and a sequential tube task.

Knowledge of Objects and Numbers in Lemurs: A Looking Time Study.

Description: Examining how lemurs spontaneously reason about physical objects and how they use such information to count using a looking time paradigm.

Comparison of vocalizations in two prosimians: Lemur catta and Hapalemur griseus.

Tamara Watts, University of Miami.

Description: The recording, documentation, characterization, and comparison of vocalizations of L. catta and H. griseus.

Habitat Usage and Foraging Behavior of two species of semi-free ranging lemur groups:  Lemur catta and Varecia variegata rubra

Sara Mapes, New College of Florida.

Description: Comparing and contrasting the use of resources by two lemur species, Lemur catta and Varecia variegata rubra, housed in a single semi-free ranging enclosure through analysis of foraging and location data.

2003

Analysis of Reprodutive Hormones in Eulemur mongoz.

Tammie, Bettinger, Christopher Kuhar, Catherine Reburn, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, 2003-2004.

Description: Analysis of reproductive hormones from fecal samples collected from male and female E. mongoz to determine hormonal changes associated with the breeding season in E. mongoz.

2002

Food Choice by Free-ranging Lemurs in South Florida.

Andrea Baden and Linda Taylor, University of Miami.

Description: Scan sampling was used to determine the plant choices of semi-free ranging troops of Hapalemur griseus and Lemur catta at the Myakka City Lemur Reserve.

Foraging and habitat use in a colony of six lemur species in Myakka City, FL.

Brian Grossi, Monica Hoffine & Linda Taylor, Lemur Conservation Foundation, University of Miami.

Description: Scan sampling was used to determine the species of plant consumed, the part of plants consumed, and the habitat type utilized by six lemur species at the Myakka City Lemur Reserve: Eulemur fulvus, Lemur catta, Eulemur mongoz, Hapalemur griseus, Varecia rubra, Eulemur fulvus hybrid.

Using Vocalizations to Determine Another Individual’s Identity Within a Lemur catta Troop.

Description: A preliminary playback experiment using habituation/dishabituation paradigm to determine whether members of a Lemur catta troop can distinguish the contact calls of different troop members.

2001

Object Permanence in four species of lemur: Ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta), Collared lemur (Eulemur collaris), Ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata) and Bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus).

Undergraduate thesis by Anja Deppe, Eckerd College.

Description: Assessing Piagetian object permanence in four species of Malagasy lemurs by hiding food items under covers and analyzing how the lemurs recover these items.

List of Published Works:

In Progress

Taylor, L. L., & Cohen, A. (2010?). Reconciliation in male ringtailed lemurs. Unpublished manuscript.
LCF Publication #14

Published

Grossi, B., & Bodry-Sanders, P. A. (2001). A lemur reserve in Manatee County: Phase 1. Florida Scientist, 64(Supplement 1) Paper presented at the Florida Academy of Sciences, St. Leo, FL.
LCF Publication #1
 
Hoffine, M. S. (2002). Recognition of individuals by vocalizations ring-tailed lemurs, Lemur catta: A preliminary playback experiment. (Unpublished Bachelor's thesis). New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL. (3105)
LCF Publication #2
 
Deppe, A. M. (2002). Object permanence in four species of lemur: Eulemur mongoz, Eulemur fulvus rufus, Lemur catta and hapalemur griseus. (Unpublished Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida.A senior thesis in Biology. Thesis (B.S.)--Eckerd College, 2002. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-46).
LCF Publication #3
 
Grossi, B. A., Hoffine, M. S., & Taylor, L. L. (2003). Foraging and habitat use in a colony of six lemur species in Myakka City, FL. Florida Scientist, 66(Supplement 1), 11. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Florida Academy of Sciences, Orlando, Florida.
LCF Publication #4
 
Baden, A., & Taylor, L. L. (2003). Food choice by free-ranging lemurs in southwest Florida. Florida Scientist, 66(Supplement 1) Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Florida Academy of Sciences, Orlando, Florida. 2003.
LCF Publication #5
 
Chapman, K. M. (2004). Multiple measures of handedness and laterality in three species of lemur: Lemur catta, Eulemur mongoz and Eulemur fulvus rufus. (Unpublished Bachelor's thesis). New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL. (3350)
LCF Publication #6
 
Mapes, S. (2004). Habitat usage and foraging behavior of two species of semi-free ranging lemur groups: Lemur catta and Varecia variegata rubra. (Unpublished Bachelor's thesis). New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL. (3405)
LCF Publication #7
 
Santos, L. R., Mahajan, N., & Barnes, J. L. (2005). How prosimian primates represent tools: Experiments with two lemur species (Eulemur fulvus and Lemur catta). Journal of Comparative Psychology (Washington, D.C.: 1983), 119(4), 394-403.
LCF Publication #8
 
Santos, L. R., Barnes, J. L., & Mahajan, N. (2005). Expectations about numerical events in four lemur species (Eulemur fulvus, Eulemur mongoz, Lemur catta and Varecia rubra). Animal Cognition, 8(4), 253-262.
LCF Publication #9
 
Mahajan, N. (2006). Lemurs (Lemur catta) know what others can and cannot see. (Unpublished Bachelor's Thesis). Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Senior Thesis presented in fulfillment of the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Science, Yale University. 
LCF Publication #10
 
Pytka, L. (2006). O grape, where art thou? A study of spatial cognition in two lemur species (Lemur catta and Eulemur fulvus rufus) in a laboratory foraging setting. (Unpublished Bachelor's thesis). New College of Florida, Sarasota, FL. (3685)
LCF Publication #11
 
Watts, T. M., & Taylor, L. L. (2006). Call structure of ringtailed lemurs, (Lemur catta), and bamboo lemurs, (Hapalemur griseus). American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 129(Supplement 52), 185. AAPA Abstracts
LCF Publication #12
 
Mahajan, N., Barnes, J. L., Blanco, M., & Santos, L. R. (2009). Enumeration of objects and substances in non-human primates: Experiments with brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus). Developmental Science, 12(6), 920-928.
LCF Publication #13
  
Chapman, K. M., Weiss, D. J., & Rosenbaum, D. A. (2010). Evolutionary roots of motor planning: The end-state comfort effect in lemurs. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 124(2), 229-232.
LCF Publication #15
 
Brown, H. (2010). Creative control: An exploration of species-specific enrichment in mongoose lemurs (Eulemur mongoz) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). (Unpublished Bachelor's Thesis). New College of Florida, Sarasota, Florida.Dr. Heidi Harley, sponsor
LCF Publication #16

List of presentations and poster sessions:

Hoffine, M.S. (2002) Recognition of Individuals by Vocalization in Ring-tailed Lemurs, Lemur catta:  A Preliminary Playback Experiment.  [Abstract] Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Primatologists, Oklahoma City, OK.

Chapman, K. & Harley, H.E. (2005, March). Multiple Measures of Handedness and Laterality in Three Species of Lemur: Lemur catta, and Eulemur mongoz and Eulemur fulvus rufus. Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the Comparative Cognition Society, Melbourne, FL.

Mahajan, N., Barnes, J.L., Edwards, L.A., & Santos, L.R. (2005). "Lemurs (Lemur catta) Know What Others Can and Cannot See." Poster presented at the Cognitive Development Society Biennial Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Barnes, J.L., Mahajan, N., Blanco, M.C., & Santos, L.R. (2005). "Domain-Specific Kind Representations in the Absence of Language: Experiments with Three Lemur Species (Eulemur fulvus, Eulemur mongoz, and Lemur catta)." Poster presented at the Cognitive Development Society Biennial Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Santos, L.R., Barnes, J.L., & Mahajan, N. (2005). "Expectations About Numerical Events in Four Lemur Species (Eulemur fulvus, Eulemur mongoz, Lemur catta and Varecia rubra)." Poster presented at the Vision Science Society Annual Meeting, Sarasota, FL.

Santos, L.R., Barnes, J.L., & Mahajan, N. (2005). "Number Cognition in Prosimian Primates." Poster presented at the Economic and Social Research Council Symposium on Comparative Issues in Object Representation, New Haven, CT.

Mahajan, N., Barnes, J.L., Edwards, L.A., & Santos, L.R. (2006). "Prosimian Primates' Reasoning About the Perceptions of Others." Poster presented at the XXI Congress of the International Primatological Society, Entebbe, Uganda.

Barnes, J.L., Mahajan, N., Blanco, M.C., & Santos, L.R. (2006). "Enumeration of Objects and Substances in Non-Human Primates: Experiments with a Lemur Species (Eulemur fulvus)." Poster presented at the Vision Science Society Annual Meeting, Sarasota, FL.

Pytka, L.M., Harley, H.E., & R.L. Curtiss-Floyd. (2007, March). O grape, where are thou? A study of spatial cognition in two lemur species (Lemur catta and Eulemur fulvus rufus) in a laboratory foraging setting. Poster presented at the International Conference on Comparative Cognition, Melbourne, FL

Chapman, K. & Harley, H.E. (2004, April). Multiple Measures of Handedness and Laterality in Three Species of Lemur: Lemur catta, and Eulemur mongoz and Eulemur fulvus rufus. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Conference for Undergraduate Research, Indianapolis, IN.

Baden, A.L. and Taylor, L.L. Food choice by free ranging lemurs in South Florida. Presentation at Florida Academy of Sciences, 67th Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL. 2003.

Chapman, K. & Harley, H.E. (2004, April). Multiple Measures of Handedness and Laterality in Three Species of Lemur: Lemur catta, and Eulemur mongoz and Eulemur fulvus rufus. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Conference for Undergraduate Research, Indianapolis, IN.

Grossi, B., Hoffine, M.S., and Taylor, L.L. Foraging and habitat use in a colony of six lemur species in Myakka City, FL. Presentation at Florida Academy of Sciences, 67th Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL. 2003.